The Handoff

Unlike the glory of yesterday, it was rainy and cold and foggy and just driech out. Jon, Kurt and I went for lunch at Universal Cafe. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it to locals and visitors alike. We had a great table, excellent food and even the wait outside with central casting multi-cultural urbanites and free coffee was delightful.

They drove me to my sister's house to begin the Christmas packing and trek to the Russian River aerie for the hols. A wonderful handing over of...me. As my sister says, I am George Bailey, the richest man in the world, truly blessed with great friends and family.


The trip to Forestville required two cars and expert packing. In the rain. Eileen and I drove up in one car with Rick and the kids in the other. It was a good time for E and me to catch up.

We all arrived safely and it was so much fun to be up in this misty Brigadoon and crank the heat and get all Brawny paper towel cozy in flannel and sweats.

The 5 of us watched "Elf" for the first time. It was wonderful. I only admit here that I cried during it. Will Ferrell was note perfect. A great, fun Christmas movie.

And to all a good night.

San Francisco, Here I Is

My friend Jon is a saint. My flight was delayed 3+ hours out of snowy Newark, NJ and he picked me up in his Santa sleigh at SFO at 1:30 this morning. I got down the chimney at his and Kurt's house and deposited into my feather bed/cocoon of comfort. Slept like an angel we had heard was high.

I love staying with Kurt and Jon as I always feel so welcome and at home. They even laid out guest-specific bedside reading: Men's Health, People's Sexiest Man Alive issue, and the local Irish paper. Bliss.

With the combo of delayed flights and instant gratification needs, we were up and drinking coffee and out to enjoy the day. We walked to the Noe Valley Farmer's Market to get produce. Bounty a go go. I loved it.

It was a BEE-U-TEE-FUL sunny, clear day in the city. We went to Mission Bay to Jon's gym and went swimming rooftop overlooking the city! In December! Fantastic.

Then it was to Tartine in the Mission District to meet my friend Michael and nosh al fresco.

So urban. I love it.


After we left Michael it was to the fab Bi-Rite Market to get apps supplies for guests tonight. A fabulous jet-lagged life is exhausting, but, well, fabulous.

Jon, unlike me, is the kind of guy who can just pull out a cocktail party (or dinner party for that matter) on the spur. It would have me on the edge. Tonight's event will be centered around broccoli rabe.

But first... and for me this is kind of momentous -- Kurt and Jon gently nudged me to shave off my goatee. It was one of those interventions I was kind of wanting to happen and afraid to initiate myself. (Can you actually do your own intervention?) Facial hair was not a badge of honor for me, but something to hide behind. I was SCARED to take it off, but wanted the helping hand of "It's time now" whispered into my ear as soft and gentle as the foam to be applied to my face. In so many words, I could see written in their eyes "You are not up for a part in a 1980's dude where's my car movie. It is time to let go and scrape that mug."

So off came my goatee after 6 or 7 years and then a ring on the door.

Cooper and Paul Louis were up from LA to see their daughters and came by for holiday cheer.


When I took this photo, I had that pinch myself moment of realizing the true meaning of Christmas which for me is that baby Jesus was born to remind us to have people over and appreciate how damn lucky we are to have friendships and a nice tree.

Cooper and PL are just great and like Jon and Kurt have certainly changed my life. It was a great night full of laughter, broccoli rabe, chin unveiling and body alignment.

Here I am with two of my fave people. I cannot say how blessed I am in them and to be able to spend time in their home as their friend and guest. Life is short and here is where I want to be! Thank you guys!

Snow Day/Travel Day

I awoke and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but snowflakes outside, more than all year.



It was a wonderful winter wonderland of whiteness. Something to sip cocoa in footed pjs and behold. But I needed to fly to San Francisco tonight. Ho, ho, ho-well.

I love the snow and I was just going to go with the flow here. As my flight was getting delayed and delayed, it gave me more time to get out in the snow and have some fun. My Central Park adjacency allows for instant frolic ability.

This is the spot where I was practicing my bagpipes just the day before in a t-shirt!

Two Artists Come to New York

Paul, Emma, Matt, Nancy

I crashed into the Redfords at Zabar's on Broadway. Nothing wrong with that except they live in LA and we hadn't yet arranged where and when we would meet up this evening on this island of millions. They were getting bread and cheese to take with on the way to the Central Park Zoo. I was getting brown rice sushi and skim milk. This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought you should just know.

Nancy reminded me that we crashed into each other some time after the turn of the century at the Trader Joes on 3rd and La Brea after what must have been years. I think I was buying those steam-a-bag Brussels sprouts. And she had a cart of stuff. Perhaps some polenta and a pork loin. It seems we have a geo-gastro relationship. Must investigate.
Paul, Emma, Matt, Nancy and Me
(The behind the scenes shot for the photo above it. Emma holds Patrick the Dog and wishes all else would get out of frame while people seemingly fuss over the reclusive Matt)

And I don't say this just because they may read this (who EVER really EVER knows the truth when someone writes that?!), but they are just a super family. I was at Nancy and Paul's wedding and knew Emma and Matt when they were wee. Nancy and I used to work together and she helped me in a big way at a baaaaaad time in my life. And this was all in California and here we are in the third or fourth season of our relationship so we take the show to New York City to increase flagging ratings! How much fun they are taking their kids here and I get to see them.

We went to Good Enough to Eat on Amsterdam and 83rd. The name of this restaurant I don't think is the best especially in these hard economic times as many things are going to be good enough to eat soon. Like the squirrels in the park a few blocks over. But it was quite cozy and a wonderful spot to catch up.

This being the city of power, art and short attention spans, I want to cut this entry short to show you some work by Emma and Matt Redford, two budding photogs whose work I admire:

PINING FOR FREEDOM by Matt Redford
Matt's bold statement about nature and commerce. I can just feel the buds trying to escape their cellophane prisons in the distance and the mighty pines felled and shrieking silently as they are tagged and beribbboned. Matt gets that this could easily have been an abattoir, but instead gets playful with the colors and the season to be less "on the nose' and thus much more profoundly shocking and nouveau ironic. Quite brilliant.


ISOLATION ALLEY by Emma Redford
Emma chose me as her muse to express the disenfranchisement we can all feel with the holidays. A subltle nod to our powerlessness in this economy is the headless Big Brother watching in left foreground. Arms crossed in judgement and authority with no hand out in aid. The distant glowing streetlight clearly represents the north star being dwarfed of its meaning and thus the diminshment of the true meaning of Christmas. And the lonely traffic cone just SCREAMS "Caution!!" yet the subject is unwitting. This photo's stark beauty always blows me away. How does she see this stuff?!


ZEBRAS GO TO SLEEP by Emma Redford
From a series of Emma's night street scenes titled "Zebras." Semmingly simple children's fairy story allusions played out on the mean streets. She really stunned the art world with this series. And quite right.

The Very Model of a Modern Consul-General

My life makes me laugh sometimes. In such a good, good way. I am in awe of the places I get to go and the people I meet.

Tonight I was at the British Consul-General's Christmas party in his private residence in Manhattan. He and his wife were simply lovely as one would expect. There were people in suits and tuxes and fancy party dresses and kilts. I had on a festive plaid tie that worked Christmas magic with my green shirt.

We were treated to Gilbert & Sullivan numbers by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players or NYGASP for short! And with all the lyrics one has to get out at such a rapid pace when singing G & S numbers, a gasp is indeed earned. They were really excellent. The evening was excellent. I met some interesting people over smoked salmon and roast turkey. I even met a former chief of the New York Caledonian Club. I told him that I was a member of the San Francisco Caledonian Club and that my grandfather and uncle are both past chiefs.

Here I am in New York City just over a year and I cannot believe so much of my good fortune. It was a wonderful Christmas party and I got to walk back from the east side and see the sparkling lights on the Rockefeller Center tree and the all the wreaths on the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue.

A magical night in a magical city.

The Day of Magical Thinking

This day started out like many others - LATE. I got up late. I didn't meditate. I had no breakfast but I decided to try to accomplish 75 things before I had to get across town to the eastside for 12:30. And even though I didn't get the laundry dropped off or my bag to the gym, WHAT I DID DO was magical.

My friend Amy and I chatted on camera via the internet about a bagpipe website project. It was magical to see her having morning coffee in Oakland while I had it in New York. And we both looked like we went to the same hair stylist. It was magical.

I had a meeting on the Upper East Side and met this most incredible woman, Maggie. As we were talking I looked out the window and thought they were doing construction on a mattress factory next door, but then I realized it was giant snowflakes falling. Absolutely magical.

I walked through the snow and got on the 1 train to another meeting downtown. I had a meeting with Peter and Shannon at FilmInFocus. Peter and I met in Ohio while volunteering for Obama and Shannon and I were supposed to meet ages ago through our friend Jessie at Sundance Channel. Anyway, it was all a small world and here were are. They were so helpful as I wanted to talk about careers in the "digital space." This is where I want to work. But not so many people are clamouring for my writing about my life so I must cast the net wider and these guys gave me some great ideas. And meeting Nina, Peter's dog, was also magical. It was just a great chat and I left with a lot of good things to think about and look into.



I had a screening tonight of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and both pals I had asked were not able to go so I thought "why not mix it up and roll the dice" and I posted on my Facebook status "Pat says 'Anyone interested in going to a screening of "Benjamin Button" with me tonight in New York? First reply wins." And more magic!! My friend Oliver in San Francisco's ex-girlfriend Chandra who I knew 10 years ago had moved to New York 8 years ago and recently got on Facebook replied!!" I would never have thought to ask her and what a delight it was. Nothing in 10 years had changed about her except she goes by Eve now. It was magical.

And the film, folks, is magical. I loved it. It is about a man who ages backwards and Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and Julia Ormand are all wonderful. It was inspiring and lovely and beautifully done and well, magical. I think I love movies that are magical. I thought of Tim Burton's "Big Fish" tonight which I also loved.

I felt like going home but we decided to go for a coffee/drink and a bite. THAT was most magical. Eve has a great turn of phrase and way of observation that I loved. The chat and chew were perfect and it was lovely to talk about the excitement and challenge of New York and our mutual California ex-pat status.

We walked outside and it was snowing. Most magical. I stopped a lovely couple and asked them to take our photo with Carnegie Hall in the background. The whole moment was magical.


I got home and turned on the lights on my deck and saw the pure, pure snow.

I don't think every day is magical though it should/could be, but when I let it be and participate in life then that day is a magic day.

Pat's Sojourn with the Sutherlands

(Ken, Sue, Katie (fellow Bruin!) and Pat)


There is something so homey, reassuring/comforting when friends from your childhood see your new place in your new city and can report back that you are okay. Maybe that is frighteningly stunted in the maturity department or maybe it is the way adult orphans feel. Or maybe it is just the way I feel.

Ken and Sue and their daughter Katie came to New York from the Bay Area for a Christmas in New York trip. We met up at my place on the Upper West Side and they got to see where (and how?) I live and we went on a walking tour from there on an especially beautiful and warm winter day. 65 degrees in fact. Down right no down needed.

Ken and I grew up playing pipes and most recently played in a band together in San Francisco as well as a summer encampment up at the Russian River every year. We have grown closer as we got older because when we were young he was one of the "older cooler 'to be admired'" kids in the pipe band and I had more runt status. Now that we are adults it has been especially wonderful to be friends.

The four of us toured about Central Park for most of the day and it was such fun to chat about everything from social networking to Scotland vs. Hawaii to gum surgery to broken hearts and broken jaws. The thread of conversation is always magical to me, it takes a path that has its own logic.

We avoided eating squirrels and berries for lunch by exiting this incredible Frederick Law Olmstead/God co-production to have lunch just around the corner from where poor John Lennon breathed his last. We had salads. No connection.

Sue and Ken's son (and more importantly fellow piper) John had a delayed flight so couldn't join us for the nature walk in the middle of one of earth's most densely populated cities. Imagine him photoshopped into the snaps.

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Below is a photo shoot of Ken's call to our friend Scott. We even recreated laughter at one of Scott's jokes to capture it on film. It was almost like having him here with us. We should have called Will too! I include all photos as they are such a photogenic family who can chose?!